Slogan Baltimore's Rock Radio HAAT 288 meters Frequency 97.9 MHz Format Active rock Branding 102.5 DVE, 102.5 WDVE | First air date December 7, 1958 Class B City of license Balti Owner Hearst Communications | |
 | ||
Former callsigns WFDS-FM (1958–1960); WBAL-FM (1960–1977) | ||
WIYY (97.9 FM, "98 Rock") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Baltimore, Maryland. The station is owned by the Hearst Corporation and broadcasts a mainstream rock format. WIYY shares a studio/office facility with sister stations WBAL (1090 AM) and WBAL-TV (channel 11) on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, near the transmission tower it shares with WBAL-TV. WIYY and WBAL are the only two radio stations owned by the Hearst Corporation.
Contents
WIYY uses HD Radio, and simulcasts the News/Talk programming of sister station WBAL on its HD2 subchannel.
History
The 97.9 frequency in Baltimore began in January 1948 as WMAR-FM, owned by the A.S. Abell Company, publishers of the Baltimore Sun and founders of WMAR-TV, Baltimore's first television station. The first station to use those call letters (and not related to the second WMAR-FM at 106.5, now WWMX), WMAR-FM was a collaborative partner of Transit Rides Inc., developer of a music format designed for public transportation and owned by the Cincinnati-based Taft family. After two years on the air, Abell shut down the radio station in June 1950 and turned in its license to the Federal Communications Commission.
The 97.9 frequency remained silent until December 1958 when it was reborn as WFDS-FM, a classical music outlet under the ownership of William S. Cook, a Baltimore native and professional engineer. Cook created WFDS-FM as one of the first radio stations in the United States to experiment with stereo. The Hearst Corporation purchased the station in April 1960 and retained classical music while renaming it WBAL-FM.
In June 1975 WBAL-FM joined NBC Radio Network's 24-hour national "News and Information Service" (NIS), and was the largest affiliate of NIS not to be an NBC Radio owned-and-operated station. After two years of all-news and low ratings, NBC closed down NIS in late May 1977. But WBAL-FM bailed on the service early, adopting its present elements—the call letters WIYY, rock music format and the "98 Rock" brand—on March 28, 1977.
WIYY (along with WBAL) is the co-flagship station of the Baltimore Ravens and during the NFL Season the station broadcasts every Ravens game. Joe Robinson hosts the "Ravens' Last Call" Sunday post-game show.
On their website, 98Rock offers podcasts of portions of its talk shows as well as their weekly special interest shows: Spiegel's News Countdown, The Rough House Podcast, Dork Dynasty, and Geekin' Madness. 98Rock has also added a simulcast of News/Talk 1090 WBAL on HD2.
Awards
In 2007, the station was nominated for the Radio & Records magazine Active Rock station of the year in a top 25 market award . Other nominees included WAAF in Boston, KBPI in Denver, WRIF in Detroit, WMMR in Philadelphia, and KISW in Seattle. WIYY was a nominee for the 2012 "Major Market Radio Station of the Year" RadioContraband Rock Radio Award.